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Story:Star Trek - Infinity/Chapter 17
---- I exited the turbolift and headed in the direction of sickbay. It had been a day since our escape from the Bioleeches. Since then, we had been completely successful in restoring full power to the warp core, regaining our maximum speed of warp 9.5. We had also repaired all the damage done by the Bioleeches, and everyone aside from Denarchia had physically recovered from their wounds. I smiled as I entered through the doors and stepped into sickbay. Denarchia lay on her biobed with a large brace around her arm that Dr. Layn referred to as a ‘''cast'';’ a type of medical coverage that acted in place of coagulation that was used through the late 22nd century, before it had been completely replaced by dermal regenerators. Although we had managed to defeat the Bioleeches, Cmdr. Chekov had requested that everyone aboard minimize their use of energy; we couldn’t afford unnecessary luxuries with a potential twelve years of travel remaining. Even though the technology was older, Dr. Layn had assured Denarchia that she would recover quite quickly due to her Xindi DNA. I walked over and sat down next to her. “You look like you’re doing well.” She glanced at me. “I suppose we’re even now; I saved your life, and you saved mine.” I replied, “Gro’kog did most of the work.” She smirked. “Yeah, I guess that big lug deserves some credit.” Her words were harsh, but I detected a hint of something else in her tone. My eyes widened. “You like him, don’t you?” She averted her eyes. “N-no! Of course not. He’s a Klingon!” Her face flushed, and although I could tell she wasn’t telling the truth, I decided to drop the subject. “So, when do you think you’ll be getting out of here?” She replied, “Lt. Layn says I’ll be up and about by tomorrow, and I can have this cloth thing off sometime in the next three days.” I responded, “That’s great news!” Nurse Amia came out of Dr. Layn’s office. “Alright, enough chit chat; you need to get some rest Cadet, so you can get back to your training, you don’t want to get behind now, do you?” Although I knew she hadn’t intended to hurt my feelings, I was nonetheless stung by the words, and was once again reminded of the fact that I was several weeks behind in my courses. I waved at Denarchia, and she waved back as I left. I was surprised at her cheerful attitude. Although I had seen her happy every now and then, she seemed surprisingly content after what she had been through, and I silently wondered if it was because of Gro’kog. They seemed quite well suited for each other; both of them came from warrior races, and both had a great love for valor and those sorts of things. As I headed in the direction of my quarters, I remembered what Phoebe had told me a few nights ago, that Nicky was worried about how well I was coping with our being trapped in the Beta Quadrant. Now that the Bioleech threat had been eliminated, nothing could possibly get in the way of us talking. “Destiny!” I turned, and was quite surprised to see Christopher making his way down the hall in my direction. He smiled and scratched the back of his neck. “Can we talk?” I replied, “I was just about to go talk with Nicky.” He responded, “Are you heading for your quarters? Could we talk while we ride the turbolift?” I replied, “Alright.” We both stepped in and he turned to me. “I…I wanted to ask you something. Back on Guandi Talek, you and I…you were…do you think of me…in a special way?” I looked at the ground, my heart started racing. I opened my mouth, then closed it again. I looked at him, and bit my lip. “Yes.” He visibly relaxed and let out his breath. “Do you want to maybe, hang out sometime in the holodeck…maybe?” My throat tightened, but I managed to nod my head. He nodded. I nodded. He nodded. The voice of the computer broke the awkward silence. “Deck four.” I turned and stepped out of the turbolift, and Chris waved at me as the doors closed. I glanced down at my hands; they were trembling, and I could feel my pulse pounding in my ears, but I felt great. I let out a little chirp of delight and headed down the hallway in the direction of my quarters. I entered, and found Phoebe and Nicky inside. Phoebe looked up and spotted me. “I’m gonna go grab something to eat.” She headed out through the automatic doors, leaving me and Nicky alone. I turned to her. “So, I heard you were worried about me.” She nodded. “Yeah. Are you doing okay, with all the stuff that’s been going on? Tabora’s death seemed to hit you pretty hard.” I replied, “I’m fine.” She raised an eyebrow. “Really?” I nodded. “I promise. In fact, I’m more than fine. Christopher just asked me if he wanted to hang out with him in the holodeck sometime.” Nicky smiled. “That’s great!” I replied, “It really was, but it felt so awkward. I felt like my heart was going to pound itself right out of my chest. I’ve never felt so…human.” She nodded. “That feeling just shows how much you care about him. You know, I bet he’d love it if you visited him after his shift ends.” I replied, “I’m not so sure about that.” She responded, “I bet he would. Just go up there right before his shift ends, say hi, and ask him if he’d like to have dinner with you.” I nodded. “His shift doesn’t end for another six hours, what should I do until then?” She replied, “Something relaxing that’ll get your mind off of him.” I frowned. “Shouldn’t I practice what I’m going to say to him? You know, to keep him interested?” She shook her head. “Be natural Destiny; that’s why he likes you. Don’t pretend to be something you’re not.” I thought for a moment. What could possibly get my mind off of Chris? “''The Perseverance''. Thanks Nicky!” I headed out of the room and towards the turbolift. As I entered the shuttlebay hangar, I spotted Chief Todd near one of the shuttlepods and walked over to her. “What’re you doing?” She glanced at me. “Just reinstalling the deuterium tank; we ended up using a good third of it during our battle with the Bioleeches.” I replied, “Need any help?” She nodded. “Actually yes, but not with the shuttlepod. There’s something I want to do with the Perseverance. While we were chasing that stowaway Bioleech, I noticed a slight misalignment with the dilithium injectors. It was a big project, so I wanted to wait until the Bioleech threat had passed before I started working on it.” I nodded eagerly. “Let’s get to work then!” And so we set to work. After disassembling the entire core, we realized that the addition of two more injectors would be a great improvement to the core. That would provide a higher amount of dilithium in a shorter period of time, increasing the intermix cycle and thus reducing the startup time for the warp sequence. We also adjusted the two additional nacelles to give the ship a more aerodynamic structure, which would reduce hull stress and make sharp impulse turns smoother. Before I knew it, the modifications were done. As I asked the computer for the time, I was quite surprised when it said it was already 1653, only seven minutes before Chris’s shift was over. I found myself wondering if it wasn’t just a coincidence. I glanced at the chief. “Chief, that being that you were talking about before, how good is his timing?” She smiled. “''Impeccable.''” I replied, “You wouldn’t mind if I left now, would you?” She shook her head, “Of course not, go ahead.” I smiled, and rushed off in the direction of the turbolift. I took a deep breath as I exited the turbolift and stepped onto the bridge. I nodded to the captain, and he said, “Can I help you with something cadet?” I replied, “Actually, I just wanted to talk to Ensign Arch. His shift is over, right?” Chekov nodded. “Yes, I suppose it is.” Chris turned as he heard his name mentioned and smiled. He walked over to me, and I once again felt my heart race. “I was wondering if you’d like to join me for dinner.” He nodded. “Of course, what time?” The bridge shook as a blast struck it, and if not for Chris’s swift hand, I would’ve been completely knocked off my feet. P’Trell turned to the captain and shouted. “Commander, a ship just came out of warp!” Chekov replied, “What class? Is it the Bioleeches?!” Forrester responded, “No sir; it’s a Shadow Warbird, they’re Romulans!” The Cmdr. replied, “Ensign, take the helm!” I could hear him mumbling under his breath, “How on earth did they get here?” As Chris retook his seat at the helm, he turned to Chekov. “Sir, is it possible that the third ship cloaked and followed us through the wormhole without our knowledge?” Chekov replied, “It’s certainly plausible, but why would they wait until now to attack us?” Another blast struck the ship, and P’Trell shouted, “Sir, the shields can’t take this kind of beating. We’re no match for them, we should retreat.” Chekov nodded and turned to Chris. “Ensign, lay in an escape course, maximum warp. They’ve lost their element of surprise.” Chris placed a hand on the console, but he fell to the ground as a phaser blast struck him. All eyes turned to the source of the blast. Chekov’s eyes widened. “Commander Forrester, what are you doing?!” The Commander raised her phaser pistol, and fired it at Lt. P’Trell, who had been reaching for his own weapon. Forrester stepped away from the science station and smiled. “Unless you want to end up like the lieutenant, I suggest you get up now and drop your phaser on the floor.” Chekov did as she said, and slowly put his hands in the air; I followed suit. The captain stared at his first officer. “Now what?” She smirked. “Now, you sleep.” She aimed her phaser, and fired it at Chekov, and as I let out a shriek, she fired it at me…